Oaklawn Handicap (Grade 2)

THE Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap was billed as one of the best races in the US in recent years and brought a big crowd to the Arkansas track. It contained last year’s Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes winners, and the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic and 2025 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes winner.

And as often happens when it is set as a two-horse contest, there was a third party to grab the spoils.

Horse of the Year Sovereignty had not raced since he won the Grade 1 Travers Stakes last August, as he missed the Breeders’ Cup with a fever the week of the race when at Del Mar. White Abarrio, who also missed the Breeders’ Cup by a late veterinary scratching, was the fitter horse, having finished second in the Pegasus World Cup in late January.

He was expected to make the running but it was Sovereignty who ended up in front and sent along by Junior Alvarado.

Journalism and Jose Ortiz also went forward and it let Irad Ortiz, Jr. sit back to a stalking trip on the seven-year-old White Abarrio.

“I said, ‘All right, let them ride their race and I’ll try to sit and make a run.’ I probably got an advantage, because I knew [Journalism] wouldn’t let him walk. So, I went to plan B. I waited, I tracked them, I followed them.” Ortiz Jr. said. The pair moved three-wide entering the stretch and, although Sovereignty stayed with him, he was always looking to fight a losing battle, while not being given a hard race. White Abarrio powered home to a two-length win for owners C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and La Milagrosa Stable. in a time of 1m 47.49secs - the fastest for an Oaklawn Handicap since Cigar in 1995.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr was emotional in TV interviews on track afterwards:

“We thought our horse was doing well, we felt like he was going to run his best, but his best might not have been good enough. It surely was. The owners have been patient, they’ve listened to the horse. Today we were rewarded with one of the best races for a long, long time.”

The son of Race Day was scratched at the starting gate prior to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The connections filed a lawsuit earlier this week. Bill Mott was not disappointed with his returning Derby winner. “The two horses who have been off for six to eight months, they both probably got a little tired. There’s nothing like having a race. We trained him up and he ran a good race.”

A next outing for White Abarrio was not confrimed but Mott said the Stephen Foster Stakes in June, (which could also be for White Abarrio) at Churchill Downs, the Whitney Stakes in August at Saratoga, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup in September at Belmont Park are potential targets for Sovereignty leading up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Burnham Square a new turf star?

AMERICA has been in need of a good turf horse for the last few seasons and just might have found one in Burnham Square.

Winner last season of the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on dirt at Keeneland, he went on to finish sixth to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby.

He had finished second, just beaten a head by Wimbledon Hawkeye in the Grade 3 DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes at the big money Kentucky Downs meeting.

Improving from his returning second at Gulfstream, the four-year-old gelded son of Liam’s Map turned the mile-and-a-half Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes into a one-horse race at Keeneland.

Under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., he settled toward the back of the field in the early stages.

As the field hit the top of the straight, he unleashed a good turn of foot and opened up a wide margin under a hand ride, hitting the line nine and three-quarter lengths in front of second-place finisher Desvio. He is now a graded stakes winner on turf and dirt.

Hernandez said: “For a horse to go a mile and a half and then shoot off the last quarter like he did, I knew it was going to take something really, really impressive to run him down, just because of how quickly he picked it up.”

Trainer Ian Wilkes added: “You come into the race just full of confidence with this horse. I knew how good he was, and I knew how good he was doing.”